Amazon Challenging Walmart in Kantar "Power Retailer" Ranking

November 5, 2012, HFN Staff

LONDON-Amazon.com is gaining ground as a "Power Retailer" of the future, according to a survey by Kantar Retail.

In this year's ranking of Power Retailers, the website increased its power ranking for 9.3 percentage points to finish at 16.2 percent. Walmart finished on top of the list with a 71.3 percent power ranking, although its ranking was down 9.5 percentage points.

The survey, now in its 16th year, included input from 600 retailer and manufacturer respondents, who provided information on how they view each other in terms of manufacturer/retailer relationships.

Those companies that ranked near the top had strategies that aligned with those of their partners and placed customers as the central focus of those strategies, Kantar said.

Among the other top five were Target at 44.6 percent (up 0.2 percentage point from last year), Kroger at 38.2 percent (down 8.8 percentage points) and Costco at 32.9 percent (down two percentage points).